An Arc of the Wild
by Zappery94
Summary: Link never did wake up after 100 years. He had died a couple of days after they put him in the Shrine of Resurrection. Luckily, the universe sent another broken, blond haired, blue eyed swordsman in his place.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! I finally came back from my trip and I'm ready to write more! Sorry to those who wanted the rewrite of To Him & To Her, but I just couldn't think up anything for that. Plus I really did want to write this. But don't worry! I will be rewriting that soon. As for this story, I always thought that Jaune and Link were similar in a way and I just replayed Breath of the Wild on master mode, so I have a lot of ideas for this one! By the way, lots of spoilers on Breath of the Wild, so if you want to avoid spoilers, (even though the game's been out for a year) play the game first and then come back. See ya! (^3^)/**

* * *

It had been clear to Zelda that Link was going to survive. Why else would the Master Sword glow that way if not for his revival? She had been full of anxiety ever since he had collapsed, but the Deku Tree had calmed her heart of worry and promised that, since they put him in the Shrine of Resurrection, he would make it out eventually. Being given that confidence, Zelda steeled herself and went off to face Ganon.

But Link never did wake up 100 years later to the future of Hyrule. After a couple of days, the walls of the tub had cracked of old age, and the healing gel had slowly leaked out. Link died 3 days after they sealed the Shrine of Resurrection. With no hero to come, Hyrule would be faced with eternal darkness as soon as Zelda ran out of energy to fight it back. Luckily, the universe sent another broken, blond haired, blue eyed swordsman in his place.

* * *

Jaune didn't know if he could hold his breath any longer. He had just admitted to cheating into one of the four most prestigious academies in all of Remnant to his partner, and she hadn't responded yet. If her face could be described in two words, it would be confusion and shock. She opened her mouth to speak, a beat passed, and she closed her mouth. Jaune couldn't tell if it had been 15 seconds or a full minute yet, but either way, the tension was killing him. Eventually, she spoke up.

"I... I... Jaune…" She stopped. It terrified him to no end that he couldn't figure out the tone of her voice. "J... Jaune… I'm... I'm sorry but... I-I need to think about this." She said as she slowly walked past him and walked to the door. She glanced back at him before leaving the roof. Jaune's eyes stayed where Pyrrha last stood as he listened to her heels crunch against the gravel as it slowly faded away. His knees felt weak and his stomach was in chaos. He slowly walked backwards until he hit the wall, then he slid down and sat with his head in his hands.

"Wh... I... What did I just do?" The night was cold but quiet, no wind and a clear sky. The only sounds he could hear were the soft chirps of distant crickets. What was he to do now? Could he even go back to his dorm? And what did Pyrrha think? She could actually could be thinking about it, but all signs in Jaune's head pointed towards her being super pissed off right now. 'Would she keep it to herself or would she tell the team? No, forget the team, she'll probably tell the whole school!' All thoughts in Jaune's head were thinking about the negative consequences of his actions. But little did he know, a certain bully had been listening to all of their conversation and had been silently recording it. Once Cardin determined that Pyrrha had left, he carefully stepped away from the window and got on to his bed. He took out his phone and uploaded the video onto his social account, silently laughing to himself. 'Man oh man Jauney-Boy! I'm sorry to do this, but I'm just being a good student and reporting crimes!'

The whole school got a notification that night. Some opened it, many didn't and kept sleeping. But the effects of that notification would be there the next morning.

* * *

Jaune wasn't that much of a social media guy. He would rather meet up and hang around with his friends rather than staying up all night and sharing memes in a group chat. Sure, he used DustTube but he didn't use Clicktalk or Quickpics. So when he woke up to his phone screaming at him, he was very confused. He checked it and saw that he had a bunch of messages. He was about to look into one but he realized that he was still on the roof and pocketed his scroll. 'Wait, did I fall asleep up here?' He got up and dusted himself off. 'Why did... I... Oh.' He looked up to see the sun was rising and people were starting to get up. 'Shit, what do I do now?' He debated going back to his dorm, but quickly rejected that idea when he realized that Ren and Nora must've asked Pyrrha where he had gone. 'Well, I guess I could go down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast...' He walked through the door of the roof. 'How am I going to explain this to them?'

Jaune wouldn't call himself a popular guy, but he noticed many stares and glares from the people he passed on his way to the cafeteria. Many glared, some whispered to their friends, but either way, Jaune couldn't handle all of the negative attention and decided to pull out his scroll. 'Oh yeah. a bunch of people messaged me overnight. I wonder what's that about?' He opened the messaging app and saw the list of people who texted him. 'What the? Why are a bunch of random people messaging me?' He opened up the first on the list. He stopped dead in his tracks as he began to read it.

"What the actual FUCK dude? You think you can just sneak in here while we worked our asses off to get here?! If I see you, you better get your ass prepared for the worst ass kicking of your life!" What. No... Nonono! How? When? Why? He checked all of the texts below. All of them where either death threats, threats to kick him out, or disappointed texts. 'Fuck! What do I do?' His nervous expression had caught some stares as groups of people started moving towards him. He quickly snuck into a crowd of tired students, who were heading to the cafeteria to get their morning coffee. From there he moved out of the crowd and jumped into a janitors closet. Hyped up on adrenalin and all the negative emotions under the sun, he paced around the closet and thought of any way to save himself from the situation he created.

* * *

Ruby Rose woke up relatively early. Usually it was the music from her phone that was her alarm, but this time it was from the yelling and shouting from her partner. "What the hell! I knew it! I knew that blond nobody was nothing but a no good cheat!" Weiss yelled as she looked through her scroll. "Weiss, stop shouting... Go back to bed, the alarm didn't even go off..." Ruby mumbled through her pillow. "No Ruby! I am marching over to team JNPR's room and throwing that criminal out of here!" Weiss said before she stormed off towards the door. 'Wait... Team JNPR's room... Blond nobody...' Ruby thought before she threw the pillow off her face and grabbed Weiss's wrist. "Wait wait wait! What are you doing Weiss?!" Ruby quietly said as to not wake up her other teammates. "Here, just look!" Weiss handed her scroll over to Ruby and huffed. "See?! I knew he was just a no good liar!" Ruby read over the text that was on Weiss's phone. Then she did it again. There was no way this was true! It had to be a rumor or something! Ruby read it over one more time. "Weiss, this is probably a rumor or something. I know you don't like him but this is a little much." Ruby said as she gave back Weiss's scroll. "No! It's real! There's video proof of him admitting to it!" Ruby's mouth hung agape. 'No... No! There's no way he would ever do that!'

"D-Do you have it? I mean... maybe... maybe it's fake!" Ruby exclaimed. He was her best friend! There was no way! Someone had to have edited him talking into a fake confession! "Maybe someone edited it together and is trying to give him a bad reputation!" Ruby was confident about her theory. Why would he, if he did, admit his cheating out in the open like that! It'd make no sense!

"I don't think so Ruby. First of all it was a video, so if someone did edit it together it would have been obvious by the jump cuts. Secondly, even if someone were to edit this video together, Beacon has a bunch of security cameras around campus. They would have caught it as well. And finally, Jaune admitted it to Pyrrha! That's why I was going to their room in the first place! I wanted to ask her if he really said it." Weiss had calmed down a bit after her outburst. While the evidence was pretty solid, Ruby believed in her heart that there was no way in Remnant that it was true. "Well then, let's go ask her about it. If Jaune really did admit it, she'll be the only true source of information in the school." Ruby would bet a years worth of cookies on this. She couldn't wait to see Weiss's face when she found out it had all been a hoax.

"What the heck are you guys talking about that is so important that it had to wake us up before the alarm went off?!" Yang shouted at the two as she sat up and moved her hair out of her eyes. "Apparently, Weiss saw on Clicktalk that Jaune had admitted to cheating into Beacon to Pyrrha. She was about to go to JNPR's room to ask before Ruby stopped her." Blake said as she put down the book she had been reading and got up off of her bed. "Sorry to say Ruby, but I have to agree with Weiss on this one. The evidence is pretty solid. I overheard the audio and it sounded genuine."

"Sheesh Blake. I know Jaune isn't the toughest or smartest of guys, but seriously? Cheating into Beacon?" Yang said, curiosity overriding her anger of being woken up. "Cut Vomit-Boy some slack, will ya?"

"Well, lets go see for ourselves." Weiss said as she opened the door to the hallway. "Heh, you'll see Weiss. When Pyrrha says that she has no idea of what you're talking about, I command you as team leader to go apologize to Jaune!" Ruby said as she pointed up into the air. She could see it now. They open JNPR's door, all of them are sleeping, they'll wake them up and ask, they'll say no, and then Ruby can give a sarcastic lecture on the dangers of the internet and social media.

But when they opened the door, calm and peace where the two emotions not present in the dorm. The first thing they noticed was that the leader of the group wasn't with them. This instantly set off red flags in their minds. The second thing they noticed was the faces of the three present. Nora seemingly looked happy, until they saw her eyes. It was like she was taking a test and couldn't figure out the answer to the most important question. Ren's face looked calm, but they saw the twitch in his eye and his subtle glare at the floor. Pyrrha though, she looked straight up depressed. She was sitting in the fetal position on her bed with a thousand-yard stare directed at their leaders bed. All of them had bags under their eyes and all of them looked miserable.

Once Ruby took in the whole situation, her heart sank. 'No... No! He... No, may-maybe they saw all of the drama on social media and are just stressed about it all.' Ruby thought, trying to interpret a different meaning from the situation in front of her. Before she could voice these thoughts though, Weiss spoke up. "What... What happened in here?" They all flinched when they heard her voice, as they didn't notice their entrance. "O-Oh! G-Good morning Weiss!" Pyrrha said, her voice shaky. "Why... Oh! Team RWBY! Why... are you all here?" Pyrrha sounded like she had been yelling at the top of her lungs a couple hours ago, because her voice was awful.

"We came here... to ask you a question." Weiss said in as calm voice as she could manage. Though it seemed to have little effect as they all flinched at her statement. Their heads feel down as they seemed to already know what she was going to ask. "Ok... what... what is it?" Pyrrha managed to get out. "Well... I saw this video this morning and wanted to confirm." Weiss pulled out her scroll and opened the post with the video. "Did what happen in the video really happen? Did Jaune cheat his way into Beacon?"

This was it. The deciding moment. Even though everything seemed stacked against her, the evidence, the video, and the state of her sister team, Ruby hoped from the bottom of her heart that the words that would come out of Pyrrha's mouth would be anything but...

"Yes..."

Nothing happened. Time stopped. Not a breath of air was uttered. A beat passed...

... and everything fell into chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! Just to clarify, Clicktalk is Snapchat and Quickpics is Instagram. I know it sucks but I am an unoriginal grain of rice. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've had to deal with family stuff, but now I can keep this going!**

* * *

The sunny light from the outside campus glimmered through the window of the janitors closet Jaune had bunkered down in. The shadows that the light created perfectly exaggerated his less than calm expression. His eyes flickered from spot to spot on the door that kept him protected. Prying his hands off his sweaty face, he quietly whispered to himself.

"Ok… Ok, just calm down and take deep breaths… Alright. Now, what are my options?" He spoke softly to himself, laying out his schedule in his mind to dissect. 'I only have around 30 minutes before breakfast ends and classes start. I can't really go out to the dining hall cause of what happened, and I can't go back to my room to grab a snack… I can't really skip out of classes with how my grades are, so there's no avoiding the mob… Shit… What have I gotten in to now?" He moved around the room and quietly mumbled to himself, but by the time he had a semi-structured plan formed, the bell rang.

"Crap… That's the five minute bell. Well, goodbye decently structured plan. Improvisation skills, don't fail me now." Jaune muttered as quickly walked out of the closet and through the halls.

* * *

A shout was heard throughout the halls of the many dorms in Beacon Academy followed by what sounded like a wrestling match. Many who were in the halls looked in confusion at what appeared to sound like a warzone coming from the JNPR dorm room. What went on inside the dorms reflected the chaos of what it sounded like.

"That little scoundrel! That dirty rotten piece of human trash! Let go of me so I can burry that blond mop of his into a cemetary!" Weiss yelled at the top of lungs at the two weights that were holding her back from commiting a crusade. It had been approximately 7 minutes since Pyrrha had dropped the news and explained the whole situation on a optimistic team RWBY, and already Weiss had plans to arrange a firing squad for the poor bastard. The reactions that they had to the news wasn't great, but if Jaune knew what they thought, he would have only been afraid of Weiss.

Ruby was sad. Sad that she couldn't rub it in Weiss's face and help bond the two teams some more, but more importantly that Weiss had been correct. She was correct that Jaune had faked his way into the academy. She had been correct that Jaune had lied to them. But she didn't hate him. She was disappointed, sure, but unlike what most people think, she didn't see life as a fairytale. She knew he wasn't a bad person and that he genuinely wanted to become a huntsman. She knew that he wouldn't want people's lives to be in danger and that he did everything to become stronger so that he could help people. So… no. She wasn't mad. She was determined. Determined to find out his true reasons for doing this and help him in whatever way possible.

Weiss was about as opposite from Ruby as it could get. She didn't understand why they were stopping her, they being Ruby and Nora. He had lied! He had cheated! Cheated into one of the four most prestigious huntsman and huntress academies in the world! So what if he "wanted to do the right thing"? He still did the wrong things to achieve that goal! Someone like that was dangerous in her eyes. Someone who thinks that the end result justifies the means to getting it. Someone like _her father_. It was a dangerous mindset to have, and she wouldn't be putting civilian lives at stake just for him to play the hero.

Blake was more indifferent the more she thought about it. Sure he commited fraud and that was a crime, but it wasn't like she hadn't done the same thing when she was in the Fang. Hell, She had done much worse before realising that it was wrong and she left. Plus, she hardly even knew the guy. How was she supposed to judge someone she rarely talked to? So, in terms of Weiss or Ruby, she leaned more on Ruby's side.

Yang though… She was more on both sides rather than one or the other. Weiss was absolutely right, he had lied to them and to everyone at the school, and he should be punished. Along with the fact that now that she knew what he did, she didn't trust him with Ruby. Liars aren't called liars because they told one lie, they usually lie about many things, to the point where you can't decipher the truth from the mountain of garbage they spew. Someone like that couldn't be trusted around her innocent, very manipulatable sister. On the contrary, Ruby made a very good point. She knew who Jaune was and knows that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's very honest about things most of the time, and when he isn't, it's usually something really personal. Like how Cardin has been bullying him. She agreed with both of them that they should go look for him though.

Once they had gotten Weiss calmed down for a second time that morning, they all explained what they thought of the situation and what they thought they should do next. "I say we tell Headmaster Ozpin what's going on and have him deal with the situation accordingly." Weiss huffed as Ruby gawked at her. "Are you crazy Weiss?! That would just get him in trouble faster! We need to settle all this drama and go find him!" Weiss and Ruby were in an intense glaring match for a couple seconds before Pyrrha broke them up. "Weiss, Ruby, please calm down! All this shouting won't solve anything. What we need to do is talk to him about this. All this guessing and fabricating will only make things worse. Now… Classes are about to begin. I would suggest you go to get ready for the day."

"Hmph… Fine. But if I see that liar, I'm only giving him one chance to explain himself before I contact the staff." Weiss spat as she and the rest of Team RWBY walked back to their dorm. Once they heard the door close, the rest of Team JNPR sighed and flopped back down. "What are we going to do now Pyrrha?" Nora asked with a low hum. "Our fearless leader is being badmouthed all over Beacon." Pyrrha sighed and looked up from Jaune's bed. "The only thing we can do. Come on, we need to get ready for class." Nora begrudgingly stood up while Ren moved towards the closet.

After Pyrrha had explained the situation to Ren and Nora last night, they had been in a funk ever since. She came back looking tired and depressed. Naturally, Nora and Ren asked what was up, and she told them everything. Pyrrha was sad, but for a different reason than Ruby. Pyrrha was sad that Jaune hadn't told them sooner. She was sad that she had run away from him when he needed her most. She wanted to help him, but he had a desire to do it on his own. To not be the damsel in distress, to be someone others could count on to be helpful, not a dead weight.

Nora had conflicted feelings that just made her want to yell. On one side, he was her fearless leader and she wanted to forgive him. On the other side, he did something wrong that made her want to hit him. So in the end she wanted to find him, give him a good bonk on the head, and make everything all nice and dandy again. But the logical part of her brain told her that even if everyone looked past his mistake, it would never be the same. All in all, the entire situation put a bad taste in her mouth.

Ren was a different story. Though Jaune was like a brother to him, he had still done something wrong in pursuit of a selfish goal. But he knew Jaune well enough to know that he hadn't meant any harm or ill will. He knew that Jaune had a desire to become stronger because of the restraints put on him. He just wanted to know why he didn't chose a different solution rather than illegally forging a transcript. There were many unconventional ways to become a huntsman rather than the academies. There were some who took an apprenticeship with a retired huntsman or huntress, there were others who have their own personal trainers, and some even rough it through the wilds outside the kingdoms in order to gain experience. If Jaune wanted to be a hero to look up to, why did he chose something so morally unjust?

By the time they had all finished getting ready and walked out of their dorm, Team RWBY had waited for them in the halls. "Alright… I know all of that arguing put a bad taste in our mouths, so why don't we head down to the cafeteria to get some breakf-" Ruby had started before the loud ringing of the bell interrupted her. "I guess we spent more time talking than we meant to, huh?" Pyrrha said with a sad smile on her face as the group split up to head to their own individual classes.

* * *

Jaune quickly walked down the hall and into his first class, Dust Studies. While he was getting plenty of stares, he moved forward and took his seat. He had been two minutes early to class, but he didn't know whether or not if that was a good thing. If he had been super early, he would have more time to formulate his plan, but he would have to see all the judgemental glares from everyone as they entered class. If he had been right on time, he wouldn't have to deal with seeing every individual come in and seethe at him, but he would have to deal with seeing a collective angry mob of people once he walked in. Either way, being in the middle of that schedule didn't help him at all. As soon as he finished that thought, two familiar pairs of eyes walked through the doorway. 'Crap! I forgot I share this class with Ren and Blake!' His eyes franticly stared at anything in the room but them. They took a quick glance at him, but simply moved on and sat in their respective seats. 'At least I don't sit directly next to them.'

Dust Studies was relatively normal, apart from the quick glares from his classmates that he had caught. The class finished up and he moved to his next class. While he was exiting the class though, he could practically feel the glares piercing through him. But as he made his exit, he passed Ren and Blake and briefly caught a glimpse of their expressions. What surprised him though was the lack of anger on their faces. He had expected them to share the same resentment as the rest of the school body, but their faces looked intrigued and kind of purposeful. Like they wanted to try and talk to him. That made him even more terrified.

By the time he had finished that thought, he had made it to his second class, Leaders Education. This put an immediate pit in his stomach. He would have to deal with Cardin and Ruby. He had gotten used to Cardin's usual insults, but now he had some serious ammunition. As for Ruby… He couldn't bear to see the sight of her actually mad at him. To see her convert from a happy go lucky, rather energetic, cute girl to a angry, volatile, pissed off glaring machine? He had seen Yang mad, he'd rather not see Ruby mad as well. He looked down at the polished wood floor of the classroom and quickly took his seat. What made the class even worse was the fact that him and Ruby sat directly next to each other, so it made it a whole new level of awkward.

The class began and he started to take notes of what the professor said. Learning his lesson from last class, he kept his eyes solely on his paper to avoid general eye contact with anyone else. Around halfway through class, he began feeling small bumps on the back of his head. Turning around but looking down, he saw small bundles of scrunched up paper lying on the ground. Knowing who sat behind him, he didn't even need to look back to know it was Cardin. Jaune sighed quietly and went back to his notes. He knew if he looked back at Cardin or read the notes on the pieces of paper, he'd be doing exactly what Cardin would want him to do. So he focused on his notes, trying to ignore the constant bumping on the back of his head.

* * *

Ruby was at a loss of what to do. Even though Jaune was sitting right next to her, she knew that she couldn't try and talk with him else she face Professor Port's wrath. She also noticed that when he turned around to see what was bumping his head, he avoided eye contact with her. Ruby steeled herself, once class was over, lunch would be next. Knowing that he would try to avoid the cafeteria as much as possible, she made a mental note to try and talk with him during lunch. She knew that if no one explained things to him, he would think that they all were angry with him, so he would avoid his team and Team RWBY as much as possible. She wanted to talk with him to get him less scared, so that he would be more comfortable to talk with everyone after school. For now, all she could do was watch him and hope he wouldn't run away as soon as she tried to initiate a conversation.

Leaders Education class had finally ended and Jaune had a massive pile of paper balls behind him. He quickly picked them up off the floor and threw them away, then he made a quick pace for the door. Ruby had been expecting this and once Jaune had walked through the doorframe, she grabbed him and ran outside to a quiet area thanks to her semblance. He was taken off guard and began to flail around in the wind of Ruby's speed. Once she had let him down, he quickly got up, ready to question the motives of the person who had just dragged him across campus, but quickly flinched once he saw who it was.

"O-Oh! Ruby! Wh-Whats up? Why'd you uh… Why'd you bring me here?" He knew he couldn't outrun her, so he instead tried to convince her to let him go. "Jaune… I know you're scared, but before anything else let me tell you this! I'm not angry." Ruby said with a reassuring tone. "Uh… wait… You're not?" Jaune asked, stumbling over his words as he did not expect her to say that. "No. I'm not. And neither is Blake, Yang, Nora, Ren, or Pyrrha. Sure, we're not happy with what you've done. But, we're not mad." Jaune noticed immediately that a certain dust using, ice queen was left out of that statement, but he didn't question it. "B… But… why?" Jaune looked down at the grass as it flowed in the soft breeze. "Why aren't you guys angry with me?" Ruby's gaze softened. "Because Jaune, we all know you. We all know that you wouldn't purposefully harm anyone. We know how much you want to be a hunter, and how hard you'll work just to get stronger. We know that you are a good person, and that you want to help the cause for peace in this world. It's what I admire about you. Even though we have only known each other for a couple of weeks, I can sense that you want nothing more than to make people happy. No amount of fortune and wealth could replace the feeling of helping someone with something they can't do, right?" Ruby said as Jaune stared at her, confused."Well yeah, but… I... " Jaune stopped short, he looked off into the vast view of hills and mountains in the distance. "How can you all be so forgiving? I did something wrong. I cheated my way into Beacon. Beacon! How can you forgive someone like me?! I could get you all killed!" Jaune shouted as tears began to form in his eyes. "What if I make a fatal mistake on a mission that could get you, my team, anyone killed! It would be my fault. All because _I_ didn't have enough training, all because _**I**_ wasn't good enough! What then?!" Cobalt eyes glared down at silver, then silver collided with cobalt. Ruby ran towards Jaune and hugged him. "Because I know you. I know you'll get better. With time and practice, I just know you can do great things, Jaune." Ruby cried into Jaunes uniform. "And we'll help you with that. Not because you're weak or pathetic, but because we want to. Because I…" Ruby's sentence slowly deteriorated into incoherent gibberish as she cried onto Jaunes shirt. Jaune, noticing that she was falling apart, put his arms around her and began to shed his own tears.

A couple minutes passed before either of them spoke a word. The soft breeze and quiet chirps of birds were the only sounds either of them could hear. Once he had stopped crying he spoke in a soft voice. "So… you guys really forgive me?" He said as Ruby pulled her face out of his chest. "Of course Jaune. I-... We all love you." Fortunately for Ruby, Jaune didn't notice her stutter and continued on. "Heh… man. What did I do to deserve such good friends?" Jaune said as he sat down onto the grass. "You were you. And that's all we can ask for." Ruby said as she sat down beside him. "Heh, you know, I distinctly remember you not adding Weiss in when you were listing the people that forgave me." Jaune said as he turned to Ruby with a sad smile. "Yeah, but you know her. Eventually, she'll come around though. I just know it." Ruby waved off. "Yeah, I guess I should expect that. She did seem pretty annoyed with me flirting with her, I'm guessing this didn't help her with that." Jaune joked as they both sat there, just staring as the clouds floated by, for another couple of minutes before Jaune got up. "Well, we probably aren't going to eat lunch today. Wanna head to class early?" Jaune said as he offered a hand to Ruby, which she gladly took. "I'd love to."

* * *

 **An extra long chapter for not uploading for a while. I wanted to make this story a bit different from the usual "Jaune's transcripts get found out and now everyone hates him!" fanfictions. I tried to emulate what the characters would say in that situation. Like how most people are angry at most fics because Blake does so much worse (probably) in the Fang but she hates Jaune just cause he faked some papers? Idk man. Also, if you didn't catch it, I'm a trash Lancaster shipper, but the story won't focus on it too much. Anyway… Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

***Holy shit. So… not dead btw. Sorry for not posting literally anything for the past two months. I'll give the quick rundown for anyone who's interested. Basically, I got the flu and missed out on a week of school. Because of that, I had to makeup the work that I missed. Right after that, I had another heath complication that made me miss even more school, meaning even more work to catch up on. Couple that with finals, I haven't been able to write, record, or do anything for the past few months. But don't worry. With winter break on my side, I'll be a writing machine. So yeah. Thanks to everyone who's been patent with me and even those of you who favorite a two chapter story. I promise more will be coming soon. Thanks and see you at the bottom. ~ The Procrastinator***

* * *

Jaune's spirit had been rejuvenated after Ruby's little peptalk. Sure, most of the school was not on his side, and sure, Weiss was still pretty angry about the whole situation, but at least he had most of his friends to back him up. As he and Ruby walked through the halls to get to class, more and more whispers entered his mind. He held his head down and started to walk a bit faster. Noticing this, Ruby tightened her grip on Jaune's hand and slowed his pace down. He turned to her, his bangs covering his eyes. "Sorry…" He said with a dejected mood. "Don't worry about it." Ruby spoke with a sympathetic tone. "It'll just take some time. For now, just ignore them. We're almost there."

Jaune and Ruby entered the classroom to find that many students were still at lunch. Ruby took out her scroll to find that they had gotten to class a couple of minutes early. They took their normal seats and began to take out their things. Even from across the room, Jaune could still feel Cardin's smug grin drilling into his mind. He sighed and pulled out his notebook. 'Great… Now I get to feel everyone's glares at me while the guy who caused all of this gets to watch me suffer. I really hope that Ruby wasn't lying when she said that the others were still on my side.' Jaune thought while more and more students were taking their seats, sneaking in a few subtle glares at him.

Pyrrha and the rest of his team took their seats next to him a minute later. He shuffled a bit awkwardly before Pyrrha put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, don't worry. Ruby texted us that she explained the situation to you. None of us are mad at you. Well, besides Weiss." Pyrrha stated calmly as her eyes gestured over to the ice princess herself. "Don't worry about her, Fearless-Leader! Give her time and she'll eventually get over it. She has to! If she doesn't, then I'll-" Nora started before Ren put a cautious hand over her mouth. "Nora, save all that energy for class. Don't worry about it so much Jaune. While we don't approve of your methods, we can all see that you're putting in a lot of effort to strive towards your goal." Ren said as Jaune relaxed a bit. "T-Thanks guys. I really don't deserve such good friends like you." Jaune said with an awkward scratch to the back of his head. "Nonsense. Now focus, class is starting."

* * *

Jaune noticed a bit into class that everyone else had kept staring at him with anticipation every time the fighters were selected. Some looked with hatred while others had sadistic glares. It made it very hard to take notes on the fights that were going on. After a couple of fights, the randomizer spun once again, only to stop on Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee. 'What?! Nonono, I can't fight her! With how angry she is at me right now, she'll burry me right here and now!' Jaune panicked as Weiss got up with a huff. 'This will show all of them that he doesn't even deserve to be here.' Weiss thought as she went down to the locker room. Jaune slowly followed her.

* * *

Crocea Mors' blade glimmered in the lights above as the two competitors stood face to face. Jaune's face was covered in a nervous sweat while Weiss' composure could not be more determined. "Alright, both of you know the rules for a standard match. You may begin when ready." Goodwitch said as she backed off the arena. Jaune took a quick inhale as Weiss charged towards him, heels shining from the glyphs at her feet. She delivered a couple of quick stabs, which Jaune dodged out of the way of. He swung his blade horizontally as she backflipped off his shield. Using her distance, Weiss summoned a couple of icicles from her glyph and hurdled them towards Jaune.

Seeing this as an opportunity, he moved towards her, parrying the barrage of icicles with his shield. Weiss, seeing his advance, summoned an ice glyph from under Jaune. He quickly rolled out of the way before a small iceberg rose up from where he once was. Weiss rushed in, placing more stabs on him as he quickly rose his shield back up. Finding her pattern, he parried off her rapier and delivered a hefty swipe to her torso. Weiss flew a couple feet away as Jaune gathered his bearings once again. When he focused back on his target, he saw what he could only describe as pure hatred in Weiss' eyes. 'That is it! I've had enough! This pathetic whelp thinks he can beat me just by getting one hit in? I'm ending this right now!" Weiss summoned many small glyphs around Jaune as pillars of fire arose from them. Jaune was stunned. 'Is she trying to burn me alive right now?!' He turned left to right only to find walls of fire at every corner, inching closer.

"Weiss! What on Remnant are you doing!" Ruby yelled, seeing the severity that the match had come to. "You'll kill him! What are you doing?!" Pyrrha said, also standing from her seat. The crowd watched with bated breath as the pillars slithered closer. They were about a foot away from him before they completely extinguished with a purple glow. "Ms. Schnee! What in the world are you doing?! I've let this match go on long enough! Are you out of your mind?!" Goodwitch screamed as Weiss turned towards her. "I should be asking that question to you, professor!" The crowd's attention was turned to the heiress as Ruby and Pyrrha rushed to Jaune, kneeling from lack of oxygen.

"You of all people should know that this _liar_ has been unprepared for this academy since day one! His grades are abysmal, he doesn't pay attention in class, and he hasn't beaten a single student in your class! Have you not noticed how he fights? He swings his sword around like he's never held any weapon in his life! And this is _Beacon Academy_! One of, if not, the most prestigious school in all of Remnant! I don't believe that some fake transcripts could fool any of the top hunter and huntress academies! He is a danger to the other students, he is a danger to civilians if he ever went on a mission, and he is not meant to be a-" Weiss' rant was cut off as the doors to the classroom were opened.

"Ms. Schnee, I believe that is enough." Ozpin spoke as he walked down to the arena. "While this is a hunter academy and we do encourage students to fight to compromise problems as it is good training, I do believe that burning another student alive is a bit much, wouldn't you say?" Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee. "I was just putting this lying scoundrel in his place." Weiss said with a huff, crossing her arms. "Well Ms. Schnee, we can talk about your rather _violent_ tendencies later. Mr. Arc? Could you please follow me up to my office? We have something we need to discuss."

Jaune finally stood up with the help of his sword acting like a crutch. "Um… Alright, professor…" He avoided any eye contact from the audience as they, along with Weiss, believed this as their victory. His nervousness had not gone unseen as Ozpin spoke up seconds later. "Fret not Mr. Arc, you are not being expelled. I merely need to speak with you." Many voices rose up from the crowd, either disappointed or shocked and angry. Though it calmed him down, it didn't help the situation back in the arena.

* * *

"Weiss?! What the hell just happened?! One minute you say that you'll give him a chance to explain himself and the next minute you're about to cook him alive?! What's gotten into you?!" Ruby shouted as team RWBY and the other members of JNPR made their way back to their respective dorms after class had been dismissed. Weiss continued to walk in front of the rest of the group, feeling their glares bore through her skull, before she sighed and turned around. "While I admit that I did use some rather drastic measures due to my emotional state, I do not regret any of my actions." Weiss stated calmly, though her quivering fist made that hard to believe.

" _Excuse me?!_ " Pyrrha shouted as she walked up to the ice queen, flames in her eyes. "All of us here understand that the way Jaune got here was wrong, but we also understand that the way you went about it was absolutely too far! Was it really necessary to torture him in such a brutal way?!" Pyrrha questioned, continuing before Weiss had a chance to answer. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if you said yes. After all, you really have your father's blood in you, don't you?" Many reeled back at that, though Blake stood still in silent support. If Pyrrha hadn't been in such a furious state, she would have immediately noticed Weiss' composure breaking.

" _How dare you!_ " Weiss attempted to shove Pyrrha back, but she recovered immediately. "You want to know why I did what I did? Why I surrounded him with fire and attempted to kill him? It's because _I_ understand how these things work! None of you understand how any of this works!" Weiss shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at Pyrrha. "I've been in almost this exact situation before, you know. We find out that my father's secretary had faked documents and had been lying about his qualifications. Many wanted to throw him out just because he was a faunus, but _I_ convinced him that since he had done such good work and how he was improving, my father should keep him. And he did. And they became such good friends that, one day, out of the blue, my father asks him to watch me for a day so that he can relax a bit. They seem like the underdog, the one you should fight for… and then they sneak up on you and… and…" Weiss trailed off, tears pouring out her eyes.

"Weiss… I…" Pyrrha said, hands covering her mouth as she and the others caught the implications that Weiss was implying. Weiss sniffled before carrying on. "He caught me without my weapon. As soon as he left, I told my father what he had done. It wasn't long before we were notified of his assassination." Weiss looked down, her eyes covered by shadows. "He robbed me of my innocence, even after I stood up for him. Before you go on about how 'Jaune would never do that' and how he's better than that, of course I know that. He'd rather jump off a cliff before harming an innocent person." Pyrrha's next statement died on her tongue as she allowed Weiss to go on.

"All I'm saying is that you aren't him. You don't know what or how he's thinking. You don't truly know anyone but yourself. So don't blindingly trust someone who you've only known for about a month. You don't just sneak into a prestigious academy without an ulterior motive." Weiss finished before turning to the dorm. "I'm going to take a shower, but think about what I've said." Weiss attempted to walk through the doorway before a red blur tackled her in her side. "Ruby!?" "I'm so sorry Weiss." Weiss stopped for a second before gently patting her partner's head. "Don't worry about it. It happened a long time ago. I'm over it. It's just that this situation brought up a lot of bad memories and I lost control of my emotions." Ruby nodded and allowed Weiss to walk through to the dorm. She turned back to the rest of the group.

"So… You guys want to keep talking about this in your guys's dorm?" Ruby asked and they all nodded. Pyrrha took a sad glance at team RWBY's dorm before Ruby put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, she'll forgive you." Pyrrha smiled sadly and nodded as she let Ruby walk in and closed the door.

* * *

Jaune's walk to Ozpin's office could only be described as tense. Sure, learning that he wouldn't be expelled was reassuring, but it didn't fully comfort him for what could possibly come next. As he walked through the doorway, he noticed Goodwitch's presence and looked around the room before taking his seat in front of Ozpin's desk. "Mr. Arc, if you are scared that you will be expelled due to your false qualifications, don't be. We have known ever since you applied to this academy, as Ms. Schnee stated earlier." Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee. 'What!? I mean... that's good. I thought that he didn't know about it and would then expel me when he found out, but that means he's known this whole time? Why didn't he do anything about it?' Jaune thought, before asking the question to the headmaster himself. "Headmaster, why did you let me in this school if you knew that I had faked my transcripts? Why did you let me stay after you saw how badly I've been doing?" Jaune questioned as Ozpin got out of his chair and looked out through the window.

"Mr. Arc, I believe that out of every student here, _you_ have the most potential out of all of them." Ozpin said as Jaune nearly jumped out of his seat. "What?! But… how? You've seen how bad my grades are, you've seen how bad I fight. What kind of potential does somebody like me have?" Jaune asked in a dejected tone, looking down to the cogs and gears in the floor. "It may just be a hunch, but I believe with the right training and the right environment, you could soar higher than any other student this year." Ozpin explained, turning back to Jaune.

"Though…" Ozpin continued. "All of that will be for nothing if you are expelled." Jaune was happy to know that the headmaster believed in him so much. To be stronger than anyone else at the academy? Him? It just didn't seem possible. His mind was snapped back to the conversation once Ozpin continued. "What do you mean by that headmaster?" Ozpin sighed before taking his seat back in his chair. "Though I believe you have so much potential, I cannot just allow you to stay at this academy without punishment. The council would go mad. Once the media gets wind of this story, my reputation would be tarnished." Jaune nodded.

"What I could do in alternative though is give you a test. One harder than any you have faced before. Probably harder than any mission a fourth year team has taken on." Jaune gulped at the thought. "If you were to complete the mission, you would prove yourself worthy of this academy. Though if you lose… I would not be surprised if the council blacklisted you from every academy on Remnant." Jaune turned white. Would he be able to conquer such a difficult task? Was it even worth it?

"Yes… I believe I could propose such a redemption to the council. Though it is up to you if you wish to take the journey." Jaune thought to himself for a while. This was his dream on the line! Would he really just give up when someone had given him the chance to succeed? Would he be fine with all the bullies laughing at his disgrace? Laughing at them being right? Would he accept the disappointed, but not surprised, looks of his family when he got home?

 _No... Hell no!_

'I've made it this far, I'll either succeed or die trying!' Jaune gave a determined look to Ozpin. "I'll do it. Even if it's harder than anything anyone here has faced, I'm not going to just give up and go home!" Ozpin smiled slightly before responding. "Alright. It will take at least a week to get everything prepared, so use that time to train. You have my support Mr. Arc. You are dismissed." Jaune nodded, determined, and walked out of the office.

"Ozpin, do you really think that this is the wisest choice? I understand that you have faith in the boy, but a mission like that would give even me a hard time!" Glynda said, walking up to the headmaster's desk. "Glynda…" Ozpin started.

"I believe that he will come out victorious no matter the odds. I can feel that fate is on his side."

* * *

 ***And that's all. Originally, the fight with Weiss and the talk with Ozpin were supposed to be two different chapters. But I felt like it has been too long since the last chapter to just give out a normal one. Sorry if the story is a little weird as it has been a while since I've written. The "thing" that I wrote for Weiss was pretty dark, but I don't think I need to change the rating as it was never said, just implied. I wanted an actual reason for her to distrust him as much as she did. Anyway, stay tuned for the next part! Jaune's really going to regret his word choice. Merry Christmas! ~ Mr. HopefullyGoingToWriteMore***


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